A writer must “know and have an ever-present consciousness that this world is a world of fools and rogues… tormented with envy, consumed with vanity; selfish, false, cruel, cursed with illusions… He should free himself of all doctrines, theories, etiquettes, politics…” —Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?). “The nobility of the writer's occupation lies in resisting oppression, thus in accepting isolation” —Albert Camus (1913-1960). “What are you gonna do” —Bertha Brown (1895-1987).

Saturday, May 16, 2015

The Plot against [Public] Pensions by David Sirota

The Pew-Arnold campaign to
undermine America’s retirement security – and leave taxpayers with the bill

This
report evaluates both the general state of the national debate over pensions
and the specific effects of the partnership between the Pew Charitable Trusts’
Public Sector Retirement Systems Project and the Laura and John Arnold
Foundation. The following is a summary of the report’s findings:

Finding: Conservative activists are manufacturing the
perception of a public
pension crisis in order to both slash modest retiree benefits and preserve expensive corporate subsidies and tax breaks.

States and cities have for years been failing to fully
fund their annual pension obligations. They have used funds that were supposed
to go to pensions to instead finance expensive tax cuts and corporate
subsidies. That has helped create a real but manageable pension shortfall. Yet, instead of citing such a shortfall as
reason to end expensive tax cuts and subsidies,
conservative activists and lawmakers are citing it as a reason to slash retiree
benefits.

Finding: The amount states and
cities spend on corporate subsidies and so-called tax expenditures is far more
than the pension shortfalls they face. Yet, conservative activists and
lawmakers are citing the pension shortfalls and not the subsidies as the cause
of budget squeezes. They are then claiming that cutting retiree benefits is the solution rather than simply
rolling back the more expensive tax breaks and subsidies.

According to Pew, public pensions face a 30-year
shortfall of $1.38 trillion, or $46 billion on an
annual basis. This is dwarfed by the $80 billion a year states and cities spend
on corporate subsidies. Yet, conservatives cite the
pension shortfall not as reason to reduce the corporate subsidies and raise public
revenue, but instead as proof that retiree benefits need
to be cut.

Finding: The pension “reforms” being pushed by
conservative activists would slash retirement income for many pensioners who
are not part of the
Social Security system. Additionally, the specific reforms they are pushing are often more expensive and risky for
taxpayers than existing pension plans.

Whether “cash balance” schemes or 401(k)-style defined
contribution plans, many of the pension “reforms” being championed by
conservative activists risk incurring more costs and increasing risks for
taxpayers.

Finding: The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Laura
and John Arnold Foundation are working together in states across the country to
focus the debate over pensions primarily on slashing retiree benefits rather than
on raising public revenues.

Pew’s Public Sector Retirement Systems Project and the
Laura and John Arnold Foundation are working in tandem on public pension policy
to manufacture the perception of crisis and press for cuts to guaranteed
retirement income. This campaign has played an integral role in states passing
legislation that cuts guaranteed retirement income – all while those states
preserve more expensive corporate subsidies.

Finding: The Laura and John Arnold Foundation is run
by conservative political operatives and funded by an Enron billionaire.

John
Arnold is an Enron billionaire whose only major experience with pension
management was his role in a company that decimated public pension funds.
Well-known conservative political operatives and consultants run his
foundation.

Finding:
The techniques used by conservative activists to gain public support to
privatize the public pensions that public workers have instead of Social
Security are, if successful, likely to be used in efforts to privatize Social
Security in the future.

The current campaign to slash public pension benefits has
relied on many of the same public relations strategies as President Bush’s
earlier campaign to privatize Social Security. In that sense, the campaign
against public pensions is an exercise in perfecting methods that manufacture
the perception of a crisis – and then result in cuts to guaranteed retirement
income. If the state-based crusade against public pensions is successful, it
will probably fuel a renewed effort to privatize Social Security…

Teacher/Poet/Musician

Copyrights & Fair Use: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my efforts to advance understanding of issues vital to a democracy. I believe this constitutes a “fair use” of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law.

Persona

"I want everything to be explained to me or nothing. And reason is impotent when it hears this cry from the heart. The mind aroused by this insistence seeks and finds nothing but contradiction and nonsense" —Albert Camus (1913-1960).